King of the Clouds
by Drifting Fog
Summary: In which there are more than 5 Zoldyck children and Killua has a kind older brother that isn't quite right in the head, but it's not exactly his fault. And he seems fine most of the time so everything's ok right? Right?
1. Fate starts to change

28/03/19 - Edited

* * *

Killua scowled angrily as he easily pushed the testing gates open, slipping through the doors a couple seconds before they automatically swung shut behind him. Blood was splattered all over his shirt, the result of dealing with a couple of stubborn weaklings who, as usual, had been threatening the gatekeeper, Zebro, when he returned. While this was a common scene, and Killua frequently just stayed by the side in the trees while waiting for the inevitable deaths of the rouges, he had just gotten back from a long, tiring job and didn't really have the patience or inclination to wait for them to die as well as for the rest of the tour group to leave.

Nevertheless, the tour group had left screaming and in a panic as usual, the tour guide exponentially calmer due to having witnessed such a scene before whenever his other brothers had gotten impatient or Mike had killed the rouges. His mood hadn't really improved though as Killua was now frustrated that he had let his emotions get the better of him when he usually had much more self-control than what he had just displayed mere moments ago.

Sighing, Killua decided that he had no need to rush back to the mansion and that he could take a quick detour. He swerved off the well-trodden path that led from the testing gates to the doors of the Zoldyck mansion, entering the forest that took up the vast majority of the Zoldyck compound. After a few minutes of travel, at his jogging speed which was more like a sprinting speed for regular people, Killua was now standing in front of a small river that originated from a waterfall from the top of the mountain.

Rummaging around in his pocket, Killua pulled out a small electronic device. Killua stared at the device for a moment. Aside from a small button in the very centre of the device, it seemed plain, with just a series of green clouds against a dark red background. However, the plain appearance hid the fingerprint sensor on either side of the device. Fingerprint sensors that would cause the device to explode with the equivalent force of a frag grenade if the fingerprint detected on the device when the button was pushed didn't match with the fingerprint of any Zoldyck family member.

Finally, Killua made up his mind and pushed the button on the device. Once done, he kept the device back in his pocket and sat down by the river, waiting silently as he stared at the crystal clear water and his own harried-looking and anticipatory yet blank expression. He didn't have to wait long and soon, the person that he had called for, that he was waiting for, had arrived.

"Killua." The sudden greeting startled the addressed male who bolted to his feet and spun around in a panic. Killua quickly spotted the person who had called out to him though and relaxed.

"Did you have to do that Sillar-nii?" Killua said reproachfully, an uncharacteristic pout on his face.

"You should have been paying attention." Sillar replied easily, jumping down from the tree branch he had been perched on and landing softly on the ground.

He was wearing a hooded mottled green cloak that facilitated his camouflage in the forest, the hood of the cloak. Sillar raised a tanned hand to push down the hood, revealing dark blue hair and sky blue eyes. He wore a plain dark green tunic underneath the cloak along with a pair of pitch black trousers and military-grade boots. Moving around, and thus shifting his cloak, revealed the knife sheaths hanging from his belt, the buckle of which had the design of a tiger standing on two legs with a long tail coiled up behind it in the air.

"Anyway, what did you need?" Sillar changed the topic as Killua continued to playfully glare at him. Killua paused for a moment, letting Sillar know that he wasn't being fooled but readily continued.

"Nothing really… It's just been a long time since I saw you." Killua said truthfully, shrugging his shoulders as he turned back around to stare at the river. Sillar hummed, striding forwards and moving up next to Killua. He sat down abruptly, patting the ground beside him in an invitation for Killua to sit down as well. Killua hesitated for a moment but obeyed and plopped down on the ground.

Sillar eyed him for a moment before he sighed, reaching out and grabbing the side of Killua's head. Killua yelped in surprise as Sillar dragged him down sideways with surprising strength, easily shrugging aside Killua's attempts at resisting, until Killua had his head resting on Sillar's lap. "Rest. You need it."

Killua blinked in surprise as Sillar started running his fingers reassuringly through his messy hair. Then, he let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes, listening to the peaceful sounds of the forest around the duo. After a while, Killua regretfully pushed himself up and off Sillar. This time, Sillar did nothing to stop Killua and Killua easily rose back up to his feet. "I should be going. Dad and the others will be wondering where I've been. I'll see you again?"

"Of course. You know what to do." Sillar agreed readily, a sad smile spreading across his previously emotionless face. Killua nodded as he turned and walked away. He stopped as he reached the end of the clearing around the river.

"Did you ever regret it? Even with the way that everything turned out?" Killua suddenly asked on the spur of the moment. Almost immediately, he cursed himself mentally, wondering why he had asked that question. He didn't take it back though, instead turning his head around to look at his older brother by a year. Sillar had donned his blank mask again and he stared back evenly at Killua. There was a long deafening silence and Killua started to turn back around, assuming that he had overstepped his boundaries and that his brother wasn't going to answer him.

"…Never." Sillar suddenly replied. Killua whipped his head back around, meeting Sillar's deep pained gaze. "I will never regret this bond." Here, Sillar raised a hand and stared down at it as bright purple flames sprang to life around it. Killua sucked in a breath as he stared in awe at the beautiful sight for the brief moment that it was visible.

Then, just as suddenly as they appeared, they vanished. Killua's eyes darted back up to meet his brother's eyes and he flinched back at the sudden empty look in them. Killua involuntarily reached out a hand and moved to near his brother but the moment he did so, dull eyes flickered up and two pairs of blue orbs met each other, one pained and the other blank.

Killua involuntarily took a step forwards, intending to help his brother but a sudden flash of light caught his attention. His eyes widening in surprise, Killua quickly whipped his head to the side as something flew past, too quickly for his eyes to track, and leaving a thin cut along his right cheek. Killua gazed at the knife embedded all the way into its hilt in the tree trunk behind him in shock, eyes drifting back to his brother slowly.

Sillar had his right hand still stretched out, the other hand resting on the hilt of the other knife. Despite the fact that it was still in the sheath, Killua had no doubts that Sillar could withdraw the knife and throw it again, too quickly for him to detect and this time, to much greater success than his previous attempt.

Gritting his teeth, Killua withdrew his hand and turned his back on his brother. Quickly, Killua ran away as fast as he could, making his way back to the mansion where his father, grandfather, and surprisingly, Milluki were waiting for him. Gotoh had likely received a notification from Zebro that he had passed through the testing gates and reported to them after he had failed to show up at the mansion within the expected time.

Killua stiffened upon seeing the two figures and slowed his sprint into a jog, stopping before the trio. "Father. Grand-"

"Did Sillar do that to you?" Silva interrupted, pointing at the thin cut on Killua's cheek, a silver of blood leaking out and slowly trailing its way down Killua's cheek. Unconsciously, Killua brought his hand up to his cheek, covering the wound. He gritted his teeth, averting his eyes as he nodded slowly, feeling oddly like he was betraying his brother as he did so.

"It wasn't his fault! I deserved it for asking him about _that_ time." Killua tried to explain.

"It doesn't matter. You're the Zoldyck heir and Sillar should have known better than to do this." Silva waved his hand dismissively before he forcibly removed Killua's hand, taking a closer look at the thin cut. "Hmph. At least it is just a shallow wound. Even then, Sillar needs to learn that he won't be allowed to do whatever he wants without consequences. Honestly, isn't it about time for him to come back home anyway? Hasn't he had enough of sulking?"

"I volunteer to go and bring Sillar home, father! I agree that he needs to get over himself and come back to accept his responsibility as a member of the Zoldyck family! He needs to make up his mind about whether he is a Zoldyck or not, and no Zoldyck would hide away in the forest like a coward!" Milluki interjected, grinning maliciously as he rubbed his hands together gleefully.

"The one who needs to get over himself is you, Milluki! And if we're going to talk about being a true Zoldyck, then as a useless lump of fat, you are certainly not a Zoldyck!" Killua snapped. A tick mark burst to life on Milluki's forehead as he took a step forwards towards Killua, folding his sleeve back threateningly. Killua didn't back down, standing his ground and glaring right back at his older brother.

"Enough!" Zeno broke the brewing fight apart before it could take place. "Killua, Milluki, go to your room. This conversation is over."

"Grandfather! You heard what he said about me! How could you let him go so easily?" Milluki protested.

"I. Said. Go. To. Your. Room." Zeno glared at Milluki, patience straining. Milluki took a step back, gritting his teeth.

"Fine." Milluki spat. He glared at Killua. "This isn't over."

Killua rolled his eyes, ignoring Milluki who let out a yell of frustration and stomped back into the Zoldyck mansion. Killua followed his older brother, heading into the mansion as his father and grandfather stared after him. He paused at the entrance to the mansion. "Father, you need to decide what is more important to you. Your family, or the family business. Because, at this point, all I can tell is that you want Sillar-nii to return to the mansion. And not because he is your son, but because of his skills."

Without turning around to meet the surprised eyes of his father and grandfather, Killua allowed the door to swing shut behind him as he headed up to his room. After a short pause, the two Zoldyck patriarchs headed into the mansion as well.

"He has a point you know." Zeno finally broke the silence as they were moving through the hallway. "Killua may be young but he is smart and he also interacts with Sillar much more than anyone else. He knows what he is talking about, especially when it concerns Sillar. Not to mention that he is your best bet if you really want Sillar to return."

"I suppose. I mean, it wasn't exactly Sillar's fault that he is the way he is right now. He just… chose to follow the wrong person. He forgot the very first rule that each Zoldyck is taught and he got too attached." Silva mused. "And I do want to repair our relationship. He is my son after all, and I have always regretted blowing up at him after he returned. I probably shattered him even further after what he had just gone through then."

"That's true. Sillar couldn't really be blamed actually. No one expects that such a bond could be broken voluntarily. Furthermore, by the leader's own foolishness…" Zeno agreed.

"Besides, Sillar is too valuable to leave alone and only completing a job or two each month." Silva suddenly said, causing Zeno to stare at him disbelievingly. Noticing his father's gaze, Silva raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Yes? Did I say something wrong?"

"I think I see what Killua was talking about, what he was trying to get through your head…" Zeno sighed, shaking his head. "I think you need to think more about what he was talking about, Silva. Specifically about where your priorities are. Honestly, I don't understand you sometimes. I wonder where exactly I went wrong raising you…"

"Father?" Silva asked in confusion.

"No. Its nothing. Just, think about what Killua said earlier. It shouldn't be too difficult. There isn't really any room for interpretations, Killua put it quite literally." Zeno replied, moving faster and leaving his son to think about the problem. There was little doubt that Silva would discuss this issue with his wife but Zeno didn't think that much progress would be made, at least progress in the right direction that is.

Silva was lacking in the emotional department and Kikyo had a habit of being selectively blind to uncomfortable topics. If the two ever discussed something relating to their sons, a giant misunderstanding would no doubt be in the works and Zeno couldn't wait for the show to unfold. He had a brief momentary thought of providing assistance, but Zeno shrugged it off. He could always resolve things afterwards, nothing could go irreversibly wrong after all.

As he looked at his groaning grandson and crying, in pride not pain, daughter-in-law, Zeno Zoldyck fully regretted deciding that his intervention in family matters was unneeded. If it was any consolation, he thought optimistically, it wasn't his son that had screwed up, it was his grandson. His daughter-in-law was just collateral damage although he was half sure that Killua had only fully decided on running away because he was creeped out by the happy yet bloody tears from his mother. If that was the case, then Zeno wondered what exacty had possessed his son to want to marry this specific woman.

Sighing, Zeno stepped aside to allow the fast approaching butlers to attend to the wounds of his grandson and daughter-in-law, shaking his head as he turned and walked towards his son's office. Wondering how he was going to break the news to his son that the clan heir had just ran away and, not only that, he had decided to drag Sillar with him as he did so. Huffing, Zeno settled for brutal honesty as he pushed the door open unceremoniously.

He smirked as he silently moved forwards and startled his son from the piles of paperwork in front of him by suddenly commenting on the one that was currently being read. Oh, how he loved Zetsu. It was the best for pulling pranks and it wasn't like he had anything better to do. There was little to occupy him nowadays, with all the jobs that the Zoldyck family going to the his grandsons.

"Father? Did you need something? Or are you just getting bored again?" Silva asked, putting his pen down.

"Hmph. I wonder what you think of me that the first thing you assume when I visit you is that I require something. Is visiting to accompany your son not a thing that I can do?" Zeno huffed in mock anger.

"No! I didn't… I mean…" Silva spluttered, wondering what to do and what to say.

"I was just joking Silva." Zeno smirked. Silva sighed, wondering why he even bothered. Then, Zeno's face grew stern and serious. "On to more important matters, however. Milluki has just very stupidly insulted and taken jabs at Sillar again. While this is not anything out of the ordinary, he went too far this time and Killua, for lack of a better word, snapped. He stabbed Milluki and slashed your wife across the face before running away. According to the gatekeeper, Killua also managed to get Sillar to go with him and the both of them are now missing."

Silva stilled, eyes slowly travelling up to meet the serious ones of his father. Then, he roared in anger, getting to his feet violently, the chair he was previously sitting on tilting over and crashing to the ground loudly. Brushing past Zeno, Silva stalked out of his office and towards the training room to vent his anger, recognising that there was no point confronting his foolish son when he was not currently thinking rationally. And so, Silva refurbished two training rooms, installing several new craters in the ground.

Meanwhile, Killua and Sillar were on a boat to Zaban City, having met a 'kind' hunter applicant while they were walking around the town and wondering what to do. Said hunter applicant had very nicely given up his registration form to them when they had asked for it. On the back of the said registration form was a riddle which the duo had quickly solved that led them to Zaban City, stating that the preliminary site was located there. Exactly where in Zaban City was still unknown but at least they had a lead and somewhere to go instead of loitering around the Padokea region which was sure to get them caught sooner rather than later.

On the boat, Killua frequently snuck glances at his brother, who was leaning on the railing and staring out at the vast ocean waters. Clad as usual in the cloak, the hood put up and casting his face into shadows, Sillar actually made quite an intimidating figure, especially with the polished wooden bow resting on a holster by his side and the quiver of gleaming arrows hanging horizontally across his hip bone. As a result, none of the other passengers had bothered them despite their obvious youth, something which Killua was happy about.

Especially because his older brother was still rather dazed and was currently spinning a knife absentmindedly around his fingers, the silver flash sending shivers down any watchers' eyes. Killua sighed, moving over and sitting on the floor of the boat beside where his brother was standing. A pair of light blue eyes darted down for a moment, causing Killua to freeze momentarily as his mind wandered back to when he had almost died, before they moved back up to examine the ocean.

Another moment later, a rough hand pressed down on Killua's head, ruffling his hair slightly before retreating. Killua placed his hand on his head in surprise, looking up at his brother who spared him a brief, weak smile. Killua grinned back and Sillar shook his head in mock exasperation. Sillar's attention soon drifted, but Killua was dancing inwardly at the progress.

Previously, Sillar rarely showed emotions, even before _the incident,_ although it got even worse after that. Now though, Sillar was at least acting a little like the way he had used to be. The pain and loss was still lurking within him, visible in his eyes, but Sillar was already doing better after a small break away from the Zoldyck compound and the general pressure placed upon him by the Zoldyck family. Killua just had to make sure to keep at it and make sure that Sillar encountered as few as his triggers as possible.

Killua just had to keep Sillar away from the rest of the family, who would no doubt do more harm whether unconsciously or not, until Sillar was ready. And he also had to make sure that he made no mention about the past. Killua sighed inwardly, finally realising the magnitude of the task he had set on himself. One mistake, a wrong word, and Sillar would likely regress back into that blank state where he would zone out and wouldn't be able to recognise people, which would in turn lead to him perceiving everyone around him as an enemy. As far as Killua was aware, that group of people who had visited once, just after Sillar had been forcibly brought back, had been able to get near Sillar but everyone else still couldn't, even himself.

Killua was still hung up about that but he recognised that those 4 people had a special bond with Sillar and, although reluctantly, accepted it. He honestly wished that they would come back but, considering that they hadn't visited even once these past 5 years, Killua doubted that they would return. Regardless, he just wanted his nicest older brother back, the older brother who would take him out hunting regularly, who would protect him and fight his other family members to give him some time to rest.

Killua missed his brother.


	2. Friendships and a very creepy jester

08/04/19 - Edited

* * *

Killua sat by his brother at the very end of the waiting area. A pile of, poisoned, orange juice cans surrounded them, courtesy of a pig-like man who had a flat square nose. Said man had the #16 number tag and, introducing himself as Tonpa, had approached the two Zoldyck brothers upon their arrival to offer them drinks and information in the name of 'creating alliances and friendships'. After milking the guy of all the information he had, Sillar had promptly scared the man off by asking for 'more poisoned canned drinks'. Which was why they were now surrounded by said drinks which #16 had all but thrown at them before escaping.

After drinking another can or two, Sillar had gathered up all the cans in his arms and slipped through the mass of applicants, somehow without coming into contact with a single one, and moving all the way at the end of the blocked off tunnel. Then, he had dumped all the cans down before plopping down on the ground and retrieving his knife which he was now once again spinning around his fingers.

"Wow! There's so many people!" A loud muffled yell had the duo wincing as they both had simultaneous feelings of pity and bemusement for the poor fool who had no doubt just invited the unwanted attention of all the other Hunter applicants in the waiting tunnel. The tension in the tunnel was practically visible and the poor fool was probably shaking in his boots right now after finding himself on the receiving end of the stares, or glares, of hundreds of hunter applicants.

Through the crowd of people milling about the tunnel, Sillar abruptly caught sight of the bright blue clothing of #16 who had sponsored the vast amount of orange juice around him. He was talking to three people, with the number tags, #403, #404 and #405. Fingering his own number tag, #100, Sillar examined the trio.

One was a short green gremlin child, with spiky hair and a wide naïve-looking grin. He was #405. Another was a blonde blue-eyed teen who was wearing a traditional-looking set of robes. He was #404. The last one was a tall male with neat black hair and a pair of small spectacles that seemed as if they were more for aesthetics than actual practical usage. He had his number tag, #403, pinned to the front of his suit which did not really seem like a practical outfit considering that he was taking part in the Hunter Exam but who was he to comment?

Suddenly, there was a loud piercing scream which drew the attention of everyone in the tunnel. Outwardly, Sillar appeared unconcerned as he didn't shift at all but, under the hood of his mottled green cloak, his eyes had drifted over to the origin of the sound. There was a large space around both the victim and the culprit which helped Sillar see better even without shifting.

His younger brother wasn't as disciplined or had enough self-control though, as his head had immediately snapped over for him to stare at the scene through narrowed focused eyes. Sillar wasn't going to comment however. Killua rarely dealt with other people outside from the family and Zoldyck retainers, having been kept solely to the assassination side and away from the jobs that required infiltration. -Those were usually reserved for himself or their youngest brother- It wasn't his fault that he didn't have such experience. And Sillar was well aware of what Killua was trying to do by dragging him along when he ran away so he was more than inclined to give Killua some leeway.

Sillar shook his head slightly as he realised that his mind was drifting again and he focused back on the scene. The culprit was a jester-looking red-haired male with the number #44, whose name was Hisoka according to Tonpa. The victim meanwhile was curled up on the ground as his arms disappeared into red cherry blossoms that were actually quite beautiful in appearance if you ignored that they were previously arms. Absentmindedly, Sillar caught the eyes of the red-haired jester and offered him an appreciative nod at the skill he had displayed as he kept his knife away. After another short wait, during which no other applicant turned up, the examiner for the first phase finally arrived.

Sillar instinctively started scrutinising the examiner almost immediately. The examiner was a bright purple haired man, with a moustache for a mouth and thin skinny limbs. His eyes were half-lidded and oddly framed by mountain-shaped eyebrows. He was also dressed in a black suit, complete with a red tie and white dress shirt. Honestly, what was wrong with people's minds? Suits should be kept for formal events or disguises, not for examinations or tests in which physical exercise was needed.

"The waiting period for the 287th Hunter Exam is now over! Thank you for waiting!" The examiner said, his voice easily carrying around the tunnel which had been silent for the past day or so as none of the applicants had been really keen on conversing with any other people, as expected. "As part of exam protocol, however redundant I personally find this to be, I am obliged to inform all of you of the risks of taking part in the Hunter Exam, namely death, permanent injuries and not-so-permanent but probably very painful injuries. I am also obliged to confirm that all of you accept these risks and invite those who are now unsure about their choice to participate in this Hunter Exam to leave now through the elevator."

"Or forever hold your peace." Sillar muttered sarcastically under his breath. Killua choked back a snort of laughter, inciting various confused and irritated looks that the two Zoldyck siblings ignored easily. A shudder suddenly ran down Sillar's spine as he felt a hungry gaze on his back but he forcefully disregarded it and returned his attention back to the examiner.

"Very well, then there will be a total of #404 hunter applicants. I am Satotz, the exam proctor of the first phase. I will now be bringing you to the site of the second phase. Please follow me." Satotz said as the shutter behind him rose up with a protesting creak.

"Second phase? So this is probably the first phase then." Killua mused out loud, glancing over at his brother who was now standing up and stowing the remaining orange juice cans into the various pockets in his cloak.

"Hmm? Probably. He didn't say how long this would take so it's a test of endurance, both mentally and physically." Sillar agreed distractedly. "Here, take these. I don't have enough space and I don't want to just leave them here." Sillar said, shoving two cans of orange juice at Killua who just took them with an exasperated sigh.

"Let's go Sillar-nii." Killua coaxed. Sillar hummed and checked the strap securing his quiver of arrows as he walked forwards, content to allow the other applicants to charge forwards first. Being the first to reach wouldn't give him any brownie points so he wasn't really going to go all out. Killua set his skateboard on the ground, stepping on it and pushing off. Sighing, Sillar started to jog, easily keeping up with his younger brother and the two conversed lowly as they headed further into the tunnel, following the crowd of people in front.

After a while, Killua caught sight of the same trio that he had noticed talking to #16 earlier. "Hey. Do you think he's around our age?" Killua asked, gesturing at the green gremlin.

"Probably. You want to talk to him?" Sillar asked, looking over at Killua. Since the both of them were only a year apart, they were around the same height and, with Killua atop the skateboard, the both of them were level with each other. If Killua were not on the skateboard though, Sillar would be around half a head taller than Killua.

"… No. I'm fine." Killua said. Sillar smirked to himself though as Killua suddenly sped up, purposely moving up to and beside the trio. Shaking his head, Sillar followed closely behind his brother, coming up as Killua was asking the green gremlin what his age was.

"I'm 12!" The gremlin replied cheerfully.

"12 huh. That's the same age as me." Killua muttered. Finally, he nodded his head determinedly and jumped off his skateboard with practised ease. "I'm Killua."

"And I'm Sillar, Killua's older brother." Sillar interjected before the gremlin could introduce himself. He smirked at Killua, feeling a little vengeful because of the younger Zoldyck abandoning him without any warning earlier.

"Hello, Killua and Sillar! I'm Gon! And this is Leorio, and Kurapika!" Gon introduced, gesturing at the people in question in order. The other two, the suited male and the blonde teen nodded in greeting and the group of 5 fell into steady silence amidst the low conversation between Killua and Gon who were looking as if they were going to be fast friends.

A couple of hours into the steady jog, Leorio started to slow down and eventually came to a halt all together. Gon and Kurapika immediately stopped upon noticing this, causing Killua to stop and consequently, Sillar also stopped jogging. But, Gon and Kurapika didn't say anything to Leorio at all. No encouragements, no words, nothing.

"Gon? What are you doing? Come on." Killua urged, glancing after the disappearing group of applicants as they rounded a corner in the tunnel. He glanced at Leorio, disdain flashing briefly in his eyes.

"Wait." Gon merely said, his eyes glowing a bright yellow. Sillar blinked in surprise, having caught a glimpse of it as he turned his head to look at Gon but, in the next moment, Gon's eyes were back to their usual warm hazel brown. Shrugging, Sillar decided that he was seeing things and focused his attention back on the fallen suited man who was kneeling down on the ground, head bowed in the perfect picture of exhaustion and hopelessness.

Suddenly, Leorio shot to his feet, eyes burning with determination. "Like hell I'm going to give up when I've made it this far! I'm going to be a hunter or die trying!" Leorio yelled as he dashed off, somehow managing to take off his suit and tie it around his waist as he did so. He was now naked from his waist up, the number tag somehow pinned onto his skin. Kurapika also quickly followed behind him, also removing the outer most layer of his clothing and hanging it on his bag for some reason.

Privately, Sillar felt that the pain from the number tag pinned on his chest and the embarrassment from being half naked was what was keeping Leorio going but it was apparently working seeing as how the duo was already catching up to the group in front. Gon grinned happily and took out his fishing pole from behind his back, swirling it once around his head before whipping it at the suitcase that Leorio had left behind, expertly hooking onto it. With another swish of his wrists, the suitcase flew towards Gon who easily caught it. Holding it in one hand, Gon looked expectantly at Killua who was looking at him with wide awed eyes.

"Cool!" Killua exclaimed excitedly as they set off down the tunnel again. "Can I try your fishing rod later?"

"Sure. As long as you let me try your skateboard too." Gon agreed readily, a wide smile on his face.

"You're on!" Killua said. "Now, do you want to race with me? Let's see who is faster shall we? The loser can tell the winner to do any one thing. Can you go up ahead and judge for us, Sillar-nii?"

"Yes…" Sillar replied hesitantly, eyeing Killua warily. Killua only gave him a small smirk in return though, and when Gon agreed excitedly, he slumped his shoulders. Then, just before he was about to speed up and run ahead of the duo, an idea struck him. "Wait! Why can't I join the two of you?"

"Because you'll win for sure and that's not fun!" Killua pouted. "And besides, that's basically the same as giving you a free wish along with a side dish of our ruined pride!"

"Oh come on Killua! Sillar can't be that fast, he's only a year or so older anyway right? He can join us." Gon persuaded.

"A year older, I'm going to be 13 this year." Sillar corrected with a beam. "And thank you Gon!" Sillar turned his head and stuck his tongue out at Killua who frowned disgruntledly.

"Whatever. Let's start now." Killua forced out. Without waiting, he immediately sped off, weaving through the people in front and easily passing by them. Startled, Gon and Sillar stared after him before quickly giving chase. However, Killua had gotten a head start on them and, while Sillar was slowly starting to catch up, the distance between Gon and Killua wasn't decreasing at all.

Sillar noticed this and, a wide smirk growing on his face, he retrieved one of the many orange juice cans he has stuffed in his pockets and held it in his hand, eyeing Killua through narrowed eyes. Taking in a deep breath, Sillar pulled his arm back and smoothly chucked the can at Killua. True to form, the can flew through the air, heading straight for his younger brother. However, before it managed to hit Killua's head, Killua ducked down and the can flew past him above his head harmlessly.

Regardless, Sillar's aim had been achieved and he grinned as Killua rolled on the ground and popped up on his feet, instinctively spinning around and dropping into a crouch. Catching sight of Sillar's grin, Killua relaxed and sighed, before he groaned in frustration as he finally realised that he had just been tricked. By this time, Gon and Sillar had caught up to him and the trio were standing in front of a long flight of stairs that led upwards, farther than they could visibly see.

"I. Hate. Stairs." Sillar spat out as they were sprinting up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Killua shot him an amused look, one which Sillar returned with a vehement glare. They were coming up on Leorio and Kurapika now, both of whom were jogging up the stairs as they conversed. Also spotting them, Gon called out to them cheerfully.

"Hey! Leorio! Kurapika! We're having a race, the loser has to do anything the winner says. Do you want to join us?"

"Gon? As well as Killua and Sillar." Kurapika greeted. "Sorry, but I think we're going to have to pass. I don't think I can go any faster than this but have fun."

"Yeah. I'm whipped!" Leorio whined.

"Not literally I hope." Sillar quipped. He stared back at the others, excluding Gon who was smiling naively, who were giving him odd looks.

"… I'm just going to forget that my brother ever said that." Killua deadpanned. "Anyway, I guess your age is catching up to you huh old man."

"What do you mean 'old man'!" Leorio raged. "I'll have you know that I was born in your generation too!'

"What?!" Everyone paused and stared at him, jaws dropping in shock and surprise at the earth-shaking revelation. Finally, Sillar laughed, shaking his head.

"That's called denial old man…" Sillar said, trailing off hopefully as he waited for Leorio to say that he was just lying or joking.

"You brat!" Leorio yelled. "You're looking at a very youthful 19 year old teenager!"

"…Well. We're not going near that topic ever again." Killua decided. Simultaneously, the others nodded their heads as Leorio gazed at them in betrayal. "Now come on guys. I want to get that free meal."

"Are you sure you can beat me?" Sillar teased.

"Yes. Because there's no way you can catch up if you are too far behind us." Killua said seriously.

"Behind you? The three of us are on the same steps. Why would I-Killua you utter ass!" Sillar yelled in anger as he rolled down the stairs. Halfway through his question, Killua took advantage of his distracted state and swept his legs out from under him as they were jogging up the stairs, still beside Kurapika and Leorio. Stumbling, Sillar lost his balance and slipped, falling backwards down the stairs.

"What did you just do? He's going to die!" Leorio yelled.

"Nah. Sillar-nii is stronger than that. Falling a couple flights of stairs won't hurt him." Killua dismissed. "Now, come on Gon. Before he recovers and catches up with us!"

"I don't think you should have done that, Killua. That was dangerous. Sillar-san might be very badly injured." Gon said reproachfully.

"Exactly! And what do you mean he's stronger than that! He's falling down concrete … stairs… Is your brother actually taking the stairs three at a time at full sprint?" Leorio asked in disbelief. Immediately, the 4 of them stopped and turned to look at the scene.

"Is… is his legs actually covered in purple flames or is that just me?" Kurapika asked slowly, rubbing his eyes.

"Yes. Yes it is. And this is where I run for my life." Killua said calmly. Then, he turned and bolted up the stairs, running away from Sillar whose eyes were somehow glowing faintly purple with anger and determination from under his hooded cloak. Gon stared before he ran after Killua, panicking slightly. Kurapika and Leorio were right behind the two boys, and the 4 of them bolted past all the other applicants, fuelled by panic and slight terror as they ran away from Sillar.

Soon, there was a light at the end of the tunnel and the 4 of them charged right past the examiner, who turned his head to look at them in slight surprise, just as Sillar caught up to them. They were far in front of the other applicants and the examiner moved to the side to both watch the show and to wait for more applicants to turn up.

"Hey Sillar-nii. You won't actually kill me right? I'm your precious younger brother, aren't I?" Killua said nervously, holding his hands up placatingly.

"I don't know. Will I? Why don't we check?" Sillar grinned menacingly. The purple flames covering his legs started to dissipate slowly but, if anything, Killua looked even more anxious as he gulped and looked around at the other three who were suddenly now standing as far away from him as they could although they still stayed in the area outside the exit of the tunnel.

"We offer Killua to you Sillar-san!" Gon yelled nervously.

"Yes. Please take him as tribute." Kurapika continued.

"Spare me! I'm too young and handsome to die!" Leorio wailed.

"Correction. We offer Killua and Leorio to you as tribute." Kurapika corrected blandly, eyeing Leorio wickedly. In response, Leorio wailed even louder.

"Guys!" Killua said, offended and panicked, as Sillar took another step closer. "Wait, Sillar-nii! I use my wish for winning this race! Don't kill me!" Sillar paused in the middle of his slow menacing steps.

"Fine. Spoilsport." Sillar pouted. Killua, along with the other 4, sighed in relief. Then, a small chuckle came from behind them and they spun around, looking for the source of the sound. By now, there were already quite a few applicants that had arrived and they were all staring at them in shock, with a little tinge of fear in the weaker ones and excitement mixed with wariness in the stronger ones.

However, the source of the chuckle turned out to be the examiner who had a hand in front of his mouth casually. He met their gazes evenly, pulling his hand away and twirling his moustache gently. "Yes?"

"No. Nothing." Leorio blinked owlishly back at the examiner's carefully blank face.

"Well, in that case, since the five of you seem to be done with your little… show. Let me explain where we are and the next part of this phase shall I?" Satotz said. An embarrassed grin swept across both Gon and Leorio's face, as the group of 5 turned to face Satotz who was looking at them meaningfully.

"Now, congratulations on making it through the first part of the first phase and welcome to the Wetland Marsh, also known as the Swindler's Swamp. The rules for this next half of the first phase is the same as the first half. Just follow me." Satotz announced. Then, he put up a single finger, eyes gleaming. "But, be warned. The Wetland Marsh is filled with intelligent beasts, all of whom employ many tricks to lure unsuspecting people to their deaths. That being said, as long as you follow me, you'll be fine. If you lose me though… well, failing this Hunter Exam will be the least of your worries."

Satotz paused, looking around at the mixture of grim and pale faces around him. "Well, let's not dally any longer. Let's-"

"Wait! Don't follow him!" A yell cut off Satotz. The applicants turned and looked to the side where an injured man, clutching his stomach with one hand and dragging something behind him with the other, stood. Sweat poured down the man's agonised face as he straightened and pointed accusingly at Satotz. "He's tricking you! I'm the real examiner!"

Murmuring started up among the applicants who were glancing between the newcomer and Satotz. Amusingly enough, Satotz was actually just standing by the side quietly, watching the proceedings with polite interest as though he hadn't just been accused of trying to kill and eat all of the hunter applicants. By his side, Killua snorted quietly, no doubt having also figured out who the real examiner was, as he watched silently. The other 3 weren't as astute though and they were discussing among themselves.

Sillar sighed tiredly as one of the other applicants suddenly brought up the point of Satotz's odd running style, inciting another, more heated, round of discussions. Idiots, the entire lot of them. "Do you have any proof?" A balding ninja-wannabe asked suddenly, eyes narrowing at the injured man.

"Yes!" The man replied quickly, almost too quickly in fact. He then showed the crowd what he had been dragging behind him. "This is a man-faced ape! It is an inhabitant of the Wetland Marsh that disguises itself in order to lure other people into the Wetland Marsh and then feed on them." The man-faced ape he was holding out had purple hair and a curled moustache, his long tongue hanging out from his fanged mouth.

He looked very much like how Satotz would likely look like if he was a monkey. And that was what seemed so… off about the whole scenario. It was pretty obvious to Killua and Sillar although it seemed as if the other applicants were being fooled by this trick. Not all of them though, Sillar mused, eyeing Hisoka who was looking rather bored with the whole thing. He was chatting to #301, a tall lean man with pins all over his body. That must hurt, Sillar winced, shivering slightly as he imagined having numerous pins piercing his flesh.

Suddenly, Hisoka brightened up, his boredom appearing as if it was a figment of one's imagination, as he turned considering eyes on Satotz. His eyes then also darted over to Sillar, no doubt noticing his gaze, and he winked. Sillar blinked owlishly as Hisoka raised a hand and flicked his wrist, poker cards suddenly appearing in between each of his fingers. Their eyes meeting, Hisoka inclined a head towards the direction of Satotz and the injured man as an indigo energy flickered to life around the cards.

A moment later, the poker cards pierced through the air, shooting directly at Satotz and the injured man. Satotz easily caught the cards between his own fingers, skidding back slightly on the ground from the pure force and momentum behind the cards, but the injured man gasped and fell over backwards, poker cards sticking out of his chest. A hush fell over the applicants as they stared in shock at the scene, stunned by the sudden violence.

However, while the other applicants were now staring at Hisoka, who was grinning maliciously, Sillar's eyes were fixed on the indigo energy around the cards stuck between Satotz's fingers. A sudden surge in energy rose from Satotz and the indigo aura dissipated. At the same time, the indigo aura around the cards stuck in the now dead man also dissipated. Staring at the indigo -purple- energy, the sounds from the surrounding gradually grew softer and softer until he could now no longer hear anything but a distant buzzing. And, try as he might, Sillar could not escape the painful silence.

Green was good. Green was natural, nature's essence at its core. Along with blue, the sea's essence, it represented the home of every single lifeform on Earth. Purple, on the other hand, was bad for some reason. Purple was… unique. People didn't like purple. They disliked it. Either it was too bright or too dark. Furthermore, purple didn't fit in like any other colour. Purple was…

"Sillar-nii!" A loud shout coupled with a rough shake broke Sillar out of his trance. Sillar blinked owlishly, staring down into his brother's frantic icy blue eyes.

"Ice is also water. Icy blue is also a good shade of blue. Good job." Sillar patted Killua on his soft white hair before wandering off after the examiner who was starting to enter the Wetland Marsh. He set off at a steady jog, slowly moving past applicant after applicant and further ahead as the mud squelched noisily under his foot.

"What just happened?" Kurapika asked finally, looking down at Killua.

"That was strange… I wonder… But…" Leorio muttered to himself, hand rubbing his chin as he stared after Sillar thoughtfully.

"Is… Is he ok?" Gon asked hesitantly, glancing at Killua beside him.

"…No. But he will be." Killua replied solemnly. Then, plastering a smile on his face, Killua grinned at Gon. "Now, come on, we should be going now. Don't want to lose the examiner do we?" Without waiting for a response, Killua dashed off, laughing lightly as Gon chased after him.

Meanwhile, Sillar had encountered a very big problem. "Ugh." Sillar groaned in disgust. The sound of the mud was becoming very irritating. Crinkling his nose with distaste, Sillar tried to reduce the amount of noise he created and, as a result, fell back slightly to the lower quarter of the group just as the ground around where he had been previously opened up. The people in the area panicked, screaming as they started their new adventure down a frog's throat along with a large piece of land.

Sillar eyed the frog as it leapt away in satisfaction after its meal of approximately 10 people, along with a crap load of dirt and vegetation, at once. "Huh." He commented eloquently, leaping over the hole in the ground. "I wonder if it ever gets indigestion…" He continued musing after landing on the ground. Then, a short distance away, the frog froze mid-leap and suddenly spat up everything that it just swallowed, land and people and all. "Well, that answers that."

Then, Sillar veered off from the path that the examiner was taking and jogged over to the area where the frog had spat up its meal, right on top of Killua, Kurapika, Gon and Leorio. "Having fun down there?" Sillar asked mildly, his lips twitching as he fought not to laugh at the sorry sight of 4 very disgruntled males covered in frog saliva and mucus.

"Shut up Sillar." Leorio grunted as he stood up and tried to clean himself up. The others followed his example and globs of frog fluids dropped to the ground.

"That was disgusting. And not an experience I ever want to repeat again." Killua snarled, shoving a couple of the other applicants off of him. "Let's just go before that blasted frog comes back and I get distracted with blissfully eradicating it."

"Language." Kurapika scolded. "But, I agree. We should leave now before we lose the examiner." And with that logical conclusion, the group of 5 dashed off and chased after the disappearing backs of the other applicants. Mist was now starting to sweep in and surround them, reducing their field of vision. Soon, all that they could see was white, as well as the hazy shadowy figures of the people in front of them. It was slightly disconcerting, especially with all the screams that were rising up all around them.

However, they soon broke through the mist and found themselves in a wide open clearing. Hisoka was standing in the centre, several corpses littering the ground beneath his feet, and smirking at a panting man with sweat trailing down his face. When the group of 5 appeared though, Hisoka's eyes darted over and the sweat-covered man took this chance to run away. He didn't get far before a poker card stopped him in his tracks and he dropped to the ground.

"Why hello!" Hisoka greeted, his tone bright and cheerful despite the visible carnage, blood, gore and corpses around him. "Would you like to join in on my little game of Examiner and Applicant?"

"No, thank you." Kurapika replied politely. Then, without taking his eyes off Hisoka, he murmured under his breath to the rest of them quickly. "On my count, we separate and run. He can't chase all of us at once."

"That's unfortunate. I'm afraid you don't have a choice though. You can forfeit I suppose but the penalty is _death_." Hisoka's voice dropped an octave at the last word and his grin was now far more menacing and far less cheerful. Trying to keep an eye on Hisoka, Sillar glanced at his brother who was shivering slightly in fear.

"It's fine. I'll protect you." Sillar murmured, ruffling Killua's hair. The words felt right, and familiar, somehow, as if he had said it multiple times before. Sillar didn't have time to contemplate it though as one of the supposed corpses groaned, surprising Hisoka and causing him to glance down and away from the group of 5. Kurapika swiftly took advantage of Hisoka's distraction, yelling out for the rest of them to run. Immediately, the group of 5 separated into 2.

Killua, Sillar and Kurapika ran to the left while Gon and Leorio ran to the right. "Splitting up hmm? Good choice. Now, who should I go after?" Sillar heard Hisoka muse to himself as they darted into the trees. They continued sprinting away for a short while until, Sillar finally noticed something.

"Guys! I don't think he's coming after us." Sillar called out lowly, in case Hisoka was actually nearby. "I can't hear anything." The three of them stood still, listening out for any sounds and, when neither of them could hear Hisoka, or anyone else, coming after them, they relaxed… Until they realised that that meant that Hisoka had gone after Gon and Leorio. Now panicking slightly, the three of them doubled back, wondering whether they would make it in time to assist Gon and Leorio or if all that awaited them were two more cooling bodies.

Sillar glanced at Killua's pinched and worried face, smirking slightly to himself. Killua had likely grown attached to Gon, and maybe Leorio as well. Killua generally adopted a hands-off policy unless the person involved was someone that he cared about. That he was actually going along with Kurapika to check on Gon, and Leorio, meant that he was at least invested in their safety.

As they burst into the clearing, they were greeted with the sight of Hisoka with his hands around a struggling Gon's neck as Leorio lay unconscious on the floor. "Gon!" Killua yelled out. However, against all expectations, unlike Kurapika, he didn't move forwards and instead stayed within the relative safety of the trees. Sillar clicked his tongue as Hisoka turned his head and stared directly at them, eyes wide and crazed.

With his right hand, Sillar unbuckled the strap keeping his bow in the holster on his left and removed his bow from the holster, gripping it in his left hand. Sillar retrieved an arrow from the quiver behind his back with his right and placed it on the string. Taking a deep breath, Sillar smoothly withdrew the string until his thumb touched his nose and aimed at his target. "Let Gon go." Sillar called out warningly.

"Are you sure you want to do that? You might hit your little friend here." Hisoka replied, a sly grin sliding back onto his face as he indicated Gon with his free hand. Immediately, Sillar released the string, immediately placing another arrow back onto the string even as his first arrow flew straight and true, in between Hisoka's legs. The arrow pierced the ground just a few inches away from Hisoka, vibrating from the force of the impact.

"Last warning. The next one goes in you. Release Gon." Sillar said, eyes cold as he gazed at Hisoka as if he was simply a target and not an actual living breathing human. Hisoka shuddered, grin widening as he obligingly released Gon. Gon slumped to the ground on all fours, raising a hand to clutch his throat and coughing as he frantically drew breath after breath into his lungs. "Thank you. Now, leave." Sillar instructed, bow still aimed at Hisoka.

Throughout all this, the bow hadn't trembled at all, remaining straight and upright without a single deviation, a testament to Sillar's arm strength. "Yes, yes. Do you want me to bring your unconscious friend to the site of the next phase?" Hisoka asked politely, his hands up in surrender even as his eyes were alight with amusement.

"Do you take us for idiots? There's no way that we're going to trust him with you!" Killua suddenly burst out, glaring defiantly at Hisoka, who frowned minutely before his usual smirk returned on his face. "You're probably planning to kill him on the way or something like that!"

"Why, you wound me. Your friend passed my little game. He has much potential, I wouldn't just kill him like this. Especially when he's unconscious. How boring that would be, to simply kill someone when they can't fight back." Hisoka replied, looking and soundly oddly serious even though his hands were theatrically clasped over his heart in a dramatic pose.

"You know the way to the next site?" Sillar decided to refrain from commenting and asked Hisoka.

"Yes. Do you want to know how?" A Cheshire grin spread across Hisoka's face as he stared anticipatorily at Sillar. "Here's a hint. Follow the indigo."

"Indigo?" Sillar parroted in confusion. He glanced around the clearing, wondering what Hisoka was referring to, until he spotted a thin indigo line on a tree at the other end of the clearing. "Ah. Indigo. Cute. Although I'm not sure when you had the time to do that. We can take it from here Hisoka. Thank you for your help but you can leave now."

"If you say so. I look forward to seeing all of you ripen." Hisoka purred before sashaying away, moving past the tree marked with an indigo line and disappearing into the forest. Sillar released his breath, slowly releasing the tense bow string as he removed the arrow. He kept his arrow away and holstered his bow, using the familiar yet quick routine to ground himself as he took deep calming breaths. Finally, after he had deemed himself sufficiently calm, Sillar looked up to see what the others were doing.

Killua was currently helping Gon while Kurapika was waking Leorio up with a couple shakes and light pats to his cheeks. Once they were all up and, in Leorio's case, coherent, Sillar led the way through the forest in front of the others as he was somehow the only one that could see the indigo line.


	3. Food and the leap of faith

11/04/19 - Edited

* * *

Sillar groaned internally and just barely stopped himself from shuddering as he tried to ignore the gaze on his back and focus on the two examiners for the second phase and what they were saying.

They had managed to make it to the clearing where the second phase was held just in time, a second before Satotz declared the end of the first phase. Once there, they had received instructions to wait and had proceeded to spend the next mind-numbingly boring half an hour or so doing nothing besides stare at the sealed off warehouse and ponder about what was creating the loud rumbling noises being emitted from within the warehouse.

The most interesting theory he had heard came from Gon, who suggested that there was a new kind of magical beast inside the warehouse that communicated with those rumbling sounds, while the most ridiculous one came from, surprisingly enough, Killua, who felt that there were people playing drums just to mess with their minds. The truth was much more… strange.

The rumbling sounds turned out to be the growling of the stomach of a man, who even sitting down was the height of the warehouse that more than tripled Sillar's own height. The giant wore a simple plain shirt and long pants. He was sitting behind a loveseat on which a female.

Her hair was done up such that there were five protruding bundles, which reminded Sillar of a steering wheel for some odd reason. Her clothes were quite revealing, with a short fishnet shirt that ended off above her belly button and a bra behind it. She also wore shorts as well as long socks that came up to her knees and high heels. The two examiners then proceeded to introduce themselves, inciting a chorus of sneers from the applicants.

Which was where Sillar found himself being molested by a pair of eyes. Instead of focusing on the examiners, whether to sneer at them like what the other applicants were doing or just to listen to what the second phase would consist of, like any other, not foolish and idiotic, normal applicant, Hisoka was instead staring at Sillar, sending shivers running down his spine.

"Are you done?" The female examiner, who had introduced herself as Menchi, asked. Her eyebrows were raised as she glared at the applicants, obviously unimpressed.

"Yeah, yeah. Just tell us what we have to do so we can get this over and done with." A broad-shouldered yet relatively short man, with the number tag #255 pinned to his shirt, sneered.

"Hmph. The second phase is split up into two parts, one administered by Buhara and the other by me." Menchi snorted before crossing her legs and folding her arms as she settled back into the loveseat. Her body language made it abundantly clear that she was not happy in the slightest and Sillar sighed.

Great. Now he had to somehow pacify the female examiner or actually do something good enough that she wouldn't fail him on principle, all because of a couple of applicants who couldn't keep their mouths shut. And all of that while trying not to die to a crazed jester. Fan-fudging-tastic.

"Your task is simple. I feel like eating roast pig right now so catch any pig in this forest and cook it for me." Buhara instructed, grinning slightly. Sillar frowned, confused as to why the task, like Buhara had stated, sounded so simple. This was the Hunter Exam, not some random survival training in the military. Before he could question the examiner though, Buhara signalled the start of the second phase and Sillar was forced to run off along with the others in case he got left behind.

"Be careful. There's probably a trick or two in this task. And even if there isn't, its best to be alert." Sillar warned as he and the others jogged off, receiving nods in acknowledgement. Unlike the other applicants, who soon veered off the path and headed into the forest to try and find some pigs, Sillar's group followed Gon as he led them confidently straight ahead. They soon came to the edge of a hill, which had a steep slope.

As Sillar was slowly and cautiously peering over, he suddenly lost his balance and started rolling down the slope. Startled, Sillar looked up, while his world was flipping and doing somersaults, and saw Killua doubling over in laughter, a hand clutched to his gut, and Gon grinning mischievously down at him. Leorio and Kurapika were looking on in amusement, and subtly sneaking up to the two boys. Understanding their plan, Sillar smirked and, as he came to a stop at the foot of the hill, called up to the now wary boys.

"Karma's a bitch!" Sillar chuckled evilly as Kurapika and Leorio pushed Killua and Gon down the hill respectively. Then, he burst out laughing when Kurapika immediately turned on Leorio and pushed him down as well before jumping and sliding down the slope of the hill on his feet instead of rolling like the rest of them. Now, the five of them were gathered at the bottom of the hill and, after calming themselves down from their laughing fit, turned around to continue their hunt for some pigs.

What they didn't expect was that, upon turning around, they would find a herd of giant pink pigs with massive horned snouts that were easily twice their height. Said herd of pigs were crowding around a set of bones on the ground, the flesh stripped expertly from them and the bones themselves pristine white.

Time seemed to freeze as both groups simply stared at each other in surprise. Finally, one of the pigs snorted and, snapping a bone in its mouth clean in half, stamped heavily on the group before leading the charge as the entire group of pigs rushed them. "Run!" Kurapika yelled as he scrambled back up the hill. Leorio and Gon were not far behind him and, glancing at each other in a silent conversation which ended in a shrug, Sillar and Killua followed them in a much calmer jog.

Together, the group of 5 raced back the way they had came, attracting the attention of all the other applicants who either stared in shock at the charging pigs, and promptly being knocked away, or ran. Sillar glanced back once and couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of all the people being knocked away by the pigs. The way they were flying through the air was almost as if they were bowling pins in a bowling alley.

They led the pigs on a wild merry goose chase through the forest, hoping that they would go for the other applicants, which some of them did, but they still had quite a large number of pigs charging after them. Finally, Gon got impatient and he turned to face the leading pig. Leaping up just as the pig was about to gore him with its large tusks, Gon crouched on a tree branch of the tree behind him as the pig crashed heavily into the tree.

It seemed largely unaffected, shaking its head slightly and quickly recovering. Then, a couple of apples, dislodged by the force behind the pig's crash, dropped onto the pig's forehead. The pig went cross-eyed, let out a high-pitched squeal and keeled over, dropping onto the ground on its side, unconscious. "The forehead! Their weakness is their forehead!" Gon gasped.

That particular titbit revealed, all the running applicants stopped and turned around. Sillar and Killua simply casually jumped up as their own pigs charged them and, hands stuffed in their pockets nonchalantly, they drop-kicked their pigs and landed back on the ground lightly as the pigs dropped heavily.

Looking around as they stood over their fallen prey, Sillar whistled in appreciation as he saw the ninja-wannabe jump up and take out his own pig by camouflaging a large rock as the background behind it. He was curious how the ninja-wannabe managed to make the cloth and paint it that fast, or maybe it was standard issue for all ninjas? But either way, it was interesting to watch.

Meanwhile, Killua was watching Kurapika and Leorio try to take out their own pigs, ready to intervene if needed. Kurapika managed to do so easily enough, leaping up and bringing his wooden swords crashing down on the pig's forehead. Leorio took more time, not being as fit as they were and unable to jump up that high. Instead, he clambered up a tree and, waiting for a pig to come after him, dropped down onto its head. Following which, he revealed a swiss army knife from his pocket and stabbed the pig's forehead viciously.

Noticing that everyone of their group was done, Killua nudged his brother. Sillar blinked and looked down at Killua, startled, with a question in his eyes. "Everyone's got their pigs. Come on." Killua replied impatiently as he bent down and easily lifted his pig into the air.

"Right. Sorry." Sillar apologised sheepishly. He grabbed his own pig and set off after Killua, meeting back up with the rest of the group and running back to the clearing. Once there, they built a campfire and, breaking a tree in half, pierced a stick through the pig. Settling back, they turned the pig every once in a while, roasting it all the way through.

They had been among the first to hunt their pigs and return and thus, were among the first to finish roasting the pig. So, when they handed their pigs to Buhara, they were the first to do so. And after receiving a pass from Buhara, they went to the side and waited for the end of the first part of the second phase.

"How did he do that?" Sillar asked in a mix of amazement, fascination and disgust.

"I…I don't know. This should not be possible." Kurapika replied hesitantly. The group were staring as Buhara ate roasted pig after roasted pig, a mountain of bones by his side. As they continued to watch, Buhara polished off yet another pig and tossed its remains onto the mountain carelessly. The mountain rumbled slightly before it erupted, bones rolling down and gathering in a much larger but shorter pile on the ground and revealing all 71 roasted pigs in their full glory. "The combined mass that he ate is even larger than himself. Where does it even go?"

Unfortunately, they weren't given time to discuss it as in the next moment, Buhara sighed in satisfaction and declared that he was finally full. "And that's it! 71 people pass the first part." Menchi declared, striking a gong. She put a hand on her hips, glaring up at Buhara. "Honestly. You were supposed to filter them out, not accept every single one."

"Well, I don't see the problem. I still lowered the numbers by quite a fair bit." Buhara shrugged uncaringly. "And besides, not a lot of them will pass your part."

"Hmph. I guess that's true enough." Menchi snorted. Then, she turned her attention back to the applicants. "Congratulations for passing the first part I suppose, but, I won't be as easy as this guy over here! Now, what I want is Sushi." Murmurings started up as the applicants turned to each other, trying to figure out what 'Sushi' was. "I see not a lot of you know what I'm talking about. Take a look inside, everything that you need will be there. This part will end once I'm full. Now, get going!"

"Do you know what 'Sushi' is?" Killua asked Sillar as he glared down at the utensils on the counter in front of him. They had been assigned counters based on the chronological order of their numbers and so, Kurapika, Gon and Leorio were at the counters all the way at the back, away from them. In contrast, the two Zoldyck brothers were somewhere in the front.

"Nope. Not a clue." Sillar replied, popping the first word. "These equipment should give us a clue though, at least to the shape of the food itself. There's rice here too…" Sillar noted, opening up a rice cooker by the side and peeking in as warm steam escaped out and brushed his face.

"FISH? Where can we find fish in the middle of a forest!?" A loud, familiar voice yelled out suddenly and the warehouse fell into silence as everyone turned to stare at the big-mouthed individual. Sillar groaned as he noticed that Leorio was looking around in surprise as everyone stared at him and Kurapika face-palmed, sighing heavily into his palms. A moment later, every one rushed out of the warehouse, following either their memory or the person in front of them, to the nearest lake.

"Come on." Sillar called out to Gon, Kurapika and Leorio, as he and Killua passed by them. Together, the five of them dashed to the nearest lake. The applicants were already swarming all over the lake, trying to catch a fish for themselves but none of them were having much success so far. Quickly, the group of five claimed a spot by the side for themselves and settled down to catch their own fish.

Gon had the easiest time, using his fishing pole and catching a fish within moments of casting his line. Sillar also had quite an easy time, having been used to catching fish for himself from his time living in the Zoldyck forest. Kurapika, Leorio and Killua couldn't catch a fish though and ended up benefiting from Sillar and Gon's survival experience.

Standing back in front of the counter and staring at the fish flopping weakly on it, Killua wondered whether there was even any point to having managed to get a fish if he didn't even know what to do. Glancing beside him, Killua found his brother also staring at the counter but analytically instead of blankly. "I don't know what to do…" Sillar sighed, placing his hand on the counter and putting his weight on it, leaning forwards.

Killua blinked owlishly at the foreign sight. A chuckle forced its way up his throat and pass his lips, attracting Sillar's attention as Killua snickered helplessly. Noticing his brother's dumbfounded gaze, Killua tried to stop himself, to no avail. "I'm-I'm sorry brother. Bu-But, th-this is the fir-first time I've seen y-you look so _lost_!"

A blush crept up Sillar's neck and he spluttered, waving his hands about frantically. "What are you…" Sillar covered his face with his hands, watching Killua as he continued to snicker uncontrollably through his fingers with mortified eyes. After a while, Killua managed to calm down but, as he saw Sillar glare at him reproachfully, a pout on his lips, Killua almost burst out laughing again. "Shut up…"

"Sorry sorry." Killua apologised. Sillar stared at him a little suspiciously but a sudden shout from the front of the warehouse distracted him. Leorio was trudging back to his assigned work counter dejectedly and, as they continued watching, Menchi proceeded to throw Gon and Kurapika's plate away, yelling angrily at them. Amusingly enough, Gon and Kurapika were comforting each other after having been declared 'no better than Leorio' by Menchi, the both of them weeping tears comically.

"She's really focusing on the appearance. How are we supposed to…" Killua glanced at Sillar in confusion, only to see Sillar staring at Menchi, or more specifically, at a particular utensil in Menchi's hand that was being abused and producing click clack sounds. Sillar's eyebrows were furrowed in concentration before his eyes brightened up and he leaned over the counter, setting to work.

Killua watched as Sillar skinned his fish, a four-eyed and flattened monstrosity, before slicing its flesh into small yet thick strips. Following that he grabbed the rice and rolled it into a sphere before wrapping it in the sliced fish. "Wish me luck!" Sillar shot Killua a brief grin as he hefted his plate and headed up to Menchi.

Killua watched eagerly as Menchi smirked and carefully lifted up the dish into her mouth. Chewing it, Menchi swallowed before saying something to Sillar. In turn, Sillar nodded his head and turned around, walking back to Killua. He shot Killua a thumbs up, smirking when Killua immediately tried to emulate what he had seen Sillar do earlier.

Suddenly, just as Sillar returned to his counter with an empty plate and a satisfied curl of his lips, a loud yell pierced through the low murmurs and discussion in the warehouse. "What do you mean, its not nice? Sushi is just a thin strip of fish on top of rice! That kid earlier passed so why didn't I pass? He can't possibly have managed to make a nicer one than me!" Silence blanketed the entire warehouse and the bald ninja started, realising what he had just revealed in a fit of anger.

Immediately, every one of the applicants rushed to make their own sushi according to the specifications that the ninja had revealed. Menchi noticed this and shot to her feet, getting into the ninja's face and poking a finger into his chest. "Shut up! Sushi is a cultural dish! You need years of practice to successfully make one!" Then, she turned to where Sillar was staring at the scene in barely veiled amusement. Amusement that swiftly turned to anger when Menchi yelled at him next. "And you! Since this _ninja_ is complaining, you fail too!"

"That's not fair!" Gon yelled back. "You already passed him!"

"Well, too bad kiddo. Blame this guy!" Menchi retorted. Gon clenched his fist, glaring at Menchi. He took a deep breath, opening his mouth and preparing to yell again.

"Gon!" Sillar shouted. Gon started, whipping his head around and looking at Sillar. "It's fine." Confusion and surprise swirled around in Gon's eyes but he reluctantly nodded and, shooting another glare at Menchi, subsided. Instead of continuing to work on his next attempt at the dish though, Gon folded his arms and took a step back from his work counter. He wasn't the only one though and several other applicants, namely Kurapika, Leorio, Killua and surprisingly enough, Hisoka, also refused to work on their own dish.

This didn't escape Menchi and Buhara's notice but Menchi just snorted derisively while Buhara merely shook his head exasperatedly at both Menchi and them. None of them gave up though and they just watched on as Menchi tasted dish after dish and refused applicant after applicant. Menchi sipped at her green tea when the flow of applicants lessened and finally stopped. Placing the ceramic cup down with a small click, Menchi took a deep breath. "Ok. I'm full. The second phase ends with no passes."

All the applicants froze, turning to stare at Menchi in disbelieving silence as tension permeated the atmosphere. "You can't do that!" Agitated protests started up from the applicants who unconsciously moved towards Menchi as their protests grew louder and their body language increasingly threatening. A select few hung back from the crowd, neither protesting nor accepting. Killua and Sillar gathered with Gon, Kurapika and Leorio at the back of the crowd, their eyes trained on the scene in front of them.

"I can do whatever I want! I'm the proctor for the second phase and what I say goes!" Menchi yelled back. And, to hammer the nail into the coffin, Menchi whipped out her phone and called the Hunter Exam board. "Hello? This is Menchi. The proctor for the second phase of this year's Hunter Exam." Menchi paused, smirking at the gathered applicants before her. "Tell the board that no one passed this year's second phase."

Without waiting for a reply, Menchi flipped her phone shut and, clenching her fist, shattered it through raw grip strength. Her display did nothing to dissuade the infuriated applicants though as they, fuelled with anger at the injustice, continued yelling at Menchi. "You're just a Gourmet Hunter! Who cares if you're the proctor? Why is cooking even a test? We're here to become hunters! Not housewives!" #255's voice stood out in particular as he smashed the work counter beside him, causing it to collapse onto the ground.

"Oh really? I'm sorry then. Try again next year and hope that I'm not your proctor again." Menchi waved the wrestler off flippantly.

"You'll regret this!" #255 raged as he charged at Menchi, arms out as if he was going to hug Menchi. Sillar narrowed his eyes when a sudden motion from Menchi caught his attention, allowing him to catch the slight glint of the light reflecting off a metal blade. Before #255 got into range of Menchi though, Buhara lifted his hand, casually slapping #255 away like he was a fly. #255 shot out the door of the warehouse, bouncing and rolling on the ground outside before sliding and coming to a stop in a cloud of dust.

"Why did you do that for? I can take care of myself." Menchi leaned her head back to look up at Buhara who glanced back down at her, unimpressed.

"I wasn't worried about you. You can take care of yourself. I just didn't want to have to explain a death to Chairman Netero and Beans. Chairman Netero might just laugh it off but you know how Beans is about this kind of things." Buhara retorted.

"Hmph." Menchi snorted. She stood up easily, revealing 4 swords which she held in her hands, two in each hand. Menchi then proceeded to juggle her swords, throwing them in the air and catching them by the hilt casually as she stepped forwards slowly towards the crowd of applicants. Finally, she came to a stop, the dazzling swords coming to a stop as well.

"Look here and listen well! All hunters are experts, if not masters, of their chosen fields and are required to be proficient in at least one martial art. None of us are weak! And, as Gourmet Hunters, we fight countless magical beasts to procure our ingredients. Sometimes, we are also called upon to defend beasts from poachers. We are blooded!" Menchi declared, pointing her swords at the applicants.

"That may be so. However, don't you think that you are being too harsh on them?" An old wizened voice asked as a deafening sound, reminiscent of that of an explosion, rang out. The hunter applicants darted outside, towards the source of the sound, and they stood in shock as a cloud of dust cleared to reveal an old man, wearing a white Gi with blue linings and a pair of wooden sandals.

"Ch-Chairman Netero…" Menchi stuttered.

"Menchi." Chairman Netero greeted, striding casually towards the Gourmet Hunter, the applicants falling back before him to give him a clear path towards her. "What's this I hear about you failing every single one of these applicants? I' sure you have a good reason for this?"

"Ah… that is…" Menchi gulped nervously. She straightened up, visibly steeling herself and looked the chairman right in his eyes. "My task was for the applicants to replicate 'Sushi', a dish that I purposely chose as I assumed that few of the applicants would know considering its origin. The purpose was to test their analytical skills as well as their willingness to explore and step out of their comfort zones. None of the applicants showed these qualities and thus, I failed them."

"That's bullshit! Sillar-nii managed to figure out what the dish was and you even passed him! Then, you failed him because some ninja-wannabe pissed you off!" Killua riposted. The chairman turned to Menchi and raised an eyebrow, his expression questioningly yet threateningly polite. Menchi shot a quick glare at Killua surreptitiously.

"Fine." The Gourmet Hunter bit out. "I got irritated after the, as the little brat over there put it, ninja-wannabe revealed what Sushi was to the other applicants. And he protested the little brat's brother's pass so I failed him too. I was also already frustrated before that when the other applicants laughed at my chosen field." Here, Menchi paused as an introspective look crossed her face. "I… I was wrong and unfair. I apologise, I should not have been so unprofessional. Chairman Netero, I officially resign as the proctor for the second phase. Please choose another proctor and give these applicants another chance."

"Hmm. I'm glad that you see the error of your ways now but it would be difficult to find another hunter to act as a proctor on such short notice…" Chairman Netero muttered, stroking his beard absentmindedly as Menchi cringed. "Well, how about this then? You will stay on as the proctor for the second phase but you will have to come up with another task and you will also demonstrate it to the applicants beforehand. Is that fine?"

"Yes!" Menchi agreed readily. She paused, taking a moment to think about the next task. Suddenly, something behind the chairman seemed to catch her eye. An idea struck Menchi and she pointed behind the chairman, everyone unconsciously looking over to try and see what she was pointing at. "Can you bring us over there Chairman Netero? To Mountain Split-in-half?"

"Ah. I see. Yes, that's no problem at all." The chairman smirked, raising a hand and signalling for the blimp which had been staying just slightly above the warehouse to land. Once all the applicants were aboard the blimp, it took off and started making its way to the mountain, which was just barely visible through all the clouds blocking the way. All the applicants stayed by the entrance, or exit depending on how you looked at it, quietly, each wrapped up in their own thoughts as to what the new second phase would involve.

Once they reached the mountain, the chairman, Menchi and Buhara got off first. They were followed closely by the applicants and this time, the blimp remained on the ground instead of hovering over their heads. Menchi led them over to a ravine that split the mountain in half, likely what had given it its name, and started taking off her shoes and socks. The applicants watched on in shock and surprise as, without any explanation whatsoever, Menchi dived off the mountain and started free-falling down the ravine.

Sillar quickly dashed forwards to the edge of the ravine, followed by his brother and the other applicants. They were all careful to not stand too close to the edge though as they watched Menchi hang on a thin thread of string, that spanned the entire width of the ravine, by her feet. She swung herself around, grabbing onto the string by her hands and pulled herself up so that she was balanced precariously on the string. Once done, she made her way over to an egg, which was wrapped in more string and hanging onto the thread that Menchi was balancing on.

Grabbing the egg, Menchi paused for a moment and Sillar tilted his head in confusion, wondering what the Gourmet Hunter was doing. Obviously, the task was to procure the egg that she was holding onto but now that she had it, she had to return to the top of the ravine. And to do so, she would have to climb up the side. So, why was she just standing there?

Then, Menchi suddenly jumped off the thread of string and gasps rang out around Sillar as she broke through the clouds and vanished from their sight. A few moments later, a strong gust of wind blew up towards the applicants from the ravine, pushing some of them back slightly, and Menchi reappeared. She was riding on the wind and, as it faltered and slowly dissipated, Menchi landed back on the mountain, behind the applicants who were gathered around the edge.

"And that's how you do it! Your task is to get one of these spider-eagle eggs. Is everyone ready? This is your last chance to back out. There's a strong current at the bottom of the ravine and, if you fail to grab onto the string, you'll die, either from the impact or from being washed out to sea." Menchi warned solemnly. Several of the applicants gulped, casting doubtful and terrified looks at the ravine.

"This is great!" Gon exclaimed, in contrast to the tense atmosphere. "It's so much better than having to cook something."

"I agree. I was waiting for something like this." Killua nodded placidly, standing by the edge of the ravine. And, by some unspoken agreement, Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio jumped off the ravine, grinning in exhilaration. Sillar sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked down at the first 4 jumpers, all hanging from a thread of string by their arms. Without turning around, Sillar raised his hands and waved it slightly before simply stepping off the edge and landing on a separate thread of string in a crouch.

He swiftly made his way across the string and grabbed five eggs, tucking them underneath his cloak, before heading straight for the group of 4. Standing above them, Sillar cast them unimpressed looks. "And how were you 4 planning to get your eggs if you are swinging around on the string like a bunch of monkeys?"

"Ah… Um… Sorry Sillar. I didn't think about that?" Gon apologised sheepishly, releasing one of his hands to rub the back of his neck. Quickly realising his mistake, Gon scrambled to grab back onto the thread as the others exclaimed in warning. Managing to do so before he slipped and fell to his death, Gon sighed in relief in tandem to the others and Sillar shook his head exasperatedly.

"Don't worry, I got all your eggs." Sillar sighed. One by one, he carefully passed the eggs over to each of them, leaving only one for himself. Then, he fell into a crouch, lowering his centre of gravity to make himself more stable as the string bounced underfoot as more applicants decided to take the leap of faith and either grabbed onto the string or landed on it or fell to their deaths. The string creaked slightly, bending underneath the combined weight of what must be about 10 applicants, excluding Sillar.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Sillar had the eggs so let's go!" Leorio said cheerfully. He was about to let go when Sillar's hand clenched around his own, effectively pinning him to the string. "Hey? What are you doing?"

"Wait." Sillar hissed through clenched teeth. As he said this, another applicant, who had managed to land on the string, jumped off with an egg clutched to his chest, calling out goodbyes and he went. And, Leorio paled as he realised that the applicant wasn't going to be coming back up.

"There's no wind…" Leorio said faintly, paling at his near brush with death that was only avoided due to Sillar's quick reflexes. Sillar silently nodded and slowly released Leorio's hand. "What do we do now?"

"Gon?" Kurapika asked, glancing over at said boy whose eyes were closed and his nose up in the air.

"Wait." Gon said distractedly, focusing on trying to deduce when the gust of wind would come. And wait they did, along with all the other group of applicants who were both skilled enough to either grab onto the string or land on it, as well as intelligent enough to know that nature wasn't under mankind's command. Finally, Gon's eyes snapped open and he released his grip on the string. "Now!"

As Gon yelled, the applicants released their own grip as well, while some of them stepped off the string. They free-falled through the clouds, the string snapping just a few seconds later. Soon, a strong gust started up just as the bottom of the ravine, a raging torrent of water, was coming into view and they shot back up through the ravine. Laughing exhilaratedly, Sillar grinned as he dropped to the ground of the mountain.

He landed in a crouch through the sheer force of habit but allowed himself to fall back and he stared up at the sky as the setting sun painted it a vibrant orange. Sighing, Sillar felt his tense shoulders relax for the first time in what seemed to be forever, as he just drank in the sight of the warm sky thirstily. Finally, Sillar reluctantly pushed himself up and trudged over to where the other applicants were crowded around a large basin of water and put his own egg in with the others.

Once the eggs were done, courtesy of Buhara whose groans and twitches told them exactly when to take the eggs out, Sillar peeled the shell off carefully. He stared down at the glistening white egg in his hands in slight trepidation, before eventually taking a small hesitant bite. Abruptly, the smooth rich taste of the egg white and the egg yolk filled his mouth and coated his tongue, mixing together. Humming happily at the unexpected surprise, Sillar wandered back over to where the others were also devouring their own eggs hungrily.

"Gei Xildar!" Gon forced out through a full mouth of egg, his cheeks bulging like a chipmunk and his voice muffled. Sillar blinked slowly as Gon swallowed the egg in his mouth, beaming at him with a half-eaten egg clutched to his chest. "Isn't this egg the best? Its delicious! Even better than normal eggs!" Then, something seemed to catch Gon's eye and he dashed off with a 'I'll be right back.' Sillar stared after him in confusion before a low chuckle broke him out of his reverie.

"Gon's very energetic isn't he?" Kurapika said, chewing on his own egg and staring fondly at where Gon was offering #255 a bite of his egg.

"Energetic is one way to put it…" Sillar muttered lowly without any real heat to his tone. Kurapika glanced at him out of the corner of his eye but remained silent, opting to continue finishing his egg. Not seeing any real problem with that, Sillar started on his own egg as well, quickly finishing it as he watched Killua converse with Gon happily, the both of them perched on the edge of the ravine with their legs swinging over the edge.

Finally, after another blimp showed up and landed, the applicants on the mountain were split into two groups, one for those that had passed and the other for those that had failed but survived, by either giving up and not attempting the jump at all or somehow getting back up without an egg for whatever reason. Then, they boarded the blimps, which took off, one headed for the nearest town and the other for the site of the third phase.

* * *

So, thanks a lot for the support over the past months. Due to some IRL stuff, I had to take a little bit of a hiatus but things are better now. You can expect updates to still be infrequent because I'm still slowly getting back into the swing of things and school just started for me. However, the next chapter is already almost done so you can expect it around the end of the month. Till then!


	4. Hunter Exam Arc : Jesters & Tricks

"Look Killua! Its like a jewel box!" Gon yelled excitedly, pressing his face against the window and staring down at the town that the blimp was passing over. Indeed, it did look like a jewel box, with the lights of the various buildings turned on as well as the car lights on the road standing out amidst the dark night. Killua sighed but obliged Gon, striding over and looking out the window as well although he refrained from pressing his face against it.

"What's the big deal? I've seen it many times before." Killua grumbled to himself under his breath, not actually intending for Gon to hear him. Apparently Gon didn't get the message though because he immediately turned his head and stared at Killua with wide shining eyes.

"Really? You've seen this before?" Gon asked.

"Um… yeah? Sillar-nii too. Our family travels around a lot for… work." Killua replied hesitantly.

"Woah." Gon breathed. "That's so cool! What does your family do?"

"… We're assassins." Killua replied slowly, his eyes sharpening as he watched Gon closely.

"Really? Both of them?" Gon asked innocently. Killua blinked owlishly, Gon's reaction catching him off-guard. Quickly, he tried to recover.

"You really believed that? I was just joking. Joking." Killua laughed.

"You weren't lying though…" Gon said, tilting his head in confusion.

"How could you tell?" Killua asked seriously and a little suspiciously. He was a trained assassin for god's sake. He should be able to hide his emotions pretty well, if not completely!

"I… just could?" Gon replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck in what was quickly becoming a very familiar motion to Killua, not that he was displeased by it. Killua had to resist the impulse to sigh and facepalm at that answer and his feelings must have shown on his face again because Gon immediately scrambled to placate him. "I mean, not that you aren't good or anything, but I could just see it. Ah, not that I'm saying you're worse than me. Of course, I'm not- I'll just keep quiet now…"

"Maybe you should." A wry voice coming from behind them agreed and Killua shot out of his seat, spinning around and ducking into a crouch to face the person that had managed to sneak up on him. Killua immediately focused in on the old white-haired chairman standing before him with a smirk before his eyes darted around the blimp. Finding nothing else, Killua slowly straightened back up.

"Ah! Netero-san!" Gon cried eagerly, bouncing in his chair. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing really. Just taking a walk around the blimp when I saw the two of you here and I thought, 'Why not talk to the youngest participants in this year's Hunter Exam?'. So, here I am!" Chairman Netero replied smoothly, meeting Killua's suspicious gaze evenly. "So? How do you find the Hunter Exam so far?"

"It's great! I've met a lot of new people and there haven't been any of those written exams that I've been dreading!" Gon said, grinning widely.

"Is that so? And what about you, _little boy_? How do you find the Hunter Exams so far?" Chairman Netero hummed, turning to Killua who bristled at the insult that the chairman had woven into his seemingly innocent question.

"Ah. Fine." Killua replied pithily. Then, he smirked. "It was very easy though, even for a little boy such as myself. Maybe your hunters are getting too old?" A brief, very brief, flash of surprise shot across the chairman's face at Killua's riposte.

"Ho. Ho. Ho. Maybe, maybe." The chairman said distractedly, looking at Killua with new eyes. "But enough of that. Do you boys want to play a game with me?"

"No." Killua shot down immediately before Gon could agree. He turned and started walking away. "Come on, let's go Gon."

"What if I offered to make you a Hunter immediately without having to go through the rest of the exams if you win?" The chairman asked slyly. Killua paused, his head turning back as he stared at the Chairman.

"Fine."

Sillar leaned against the wall, a hand tucked into a pocket and the other arm resting on the knife sheathed on his belt. There were other people in the room, it being a communal one for the applicants to rest in during the transition from the second phase to the third phase, but Sillar was only paying attention to the movements of one, Hisoka. The two of them were the only ones that looked comfortable and at ease, the other applicants seeming as if they would rather be jumping off the blimp without a parachute then stay in the same room as the two predators.

Finally, one applicant broke first and he rushed to his feet, bolting out of the room. There was a stunned silence for a moment as eyes darted across to the door and then to Hisoka, followed by Sillar. Then, every other applicant also rushed to leave, creating a torrent that rushed out of the room and into the hallways of the blimp. Meanwhile, Sillar and Hisoka hadn't twitched at all, Sillar eyeing Hisoka warily and Hisoka, in turn, staring at his completed pyramid of cards in front of him with his hands outstretched.

Suddenly, Hisoka poked at the card pyramid with a finger. As the pyramid collapsed, Hisoka burst into frenzied laughter, clutching his sides and doubling over. Sillar shuddered, shifting his hand and tightening his grip around the hilt of his dagger unconsciously. Hisoka's eyes immediately darted over at the movement and Sillar froze, his breath catching in his throat at the wild look in Hisoka's eyes. Fear overtook him and Sillar involuntarily hunched in on himself slightly.

Disappointment flashed briefly in Hisoka's eyes but Sillar was too relieved that the pressure in the room had lessened to ponder about it. Hisoka sighed, running a hand through his hand and stood up. Sillar watched warily as Hisoka slowly approached him, pressing back against the wall behind him before he could stop himself. Hisoka stopped a metre away, just within Sillar's range with the use of his dagger, and eyed Sillar silently. "What?" Hisoka finally asked.

"What was the indigo line? Back in the forest. The others couldn't see it but I could. And apparently, so can you." Sillar asked boldly, his tone not betraying the anxiety inside him.

"Your brother won't like it if I tell you. And he's a rather important contact of mine." HIsoka replied, a smirk playing at his lips.

"My brother? You know Illumi?" Sillar asked, eyes narrowing in thought.

"And why do you think I know Illumi? I could be referring to Milluki, or maybe even Killua for all you know." Hisoka probed.

"No, you'll probably get irritated with Milluki and kill him within the first week. And Killua couldn't see the indigo line earlier." Sillar dismissed. Then, pulling courage from thin air, Sillar glared up at Hisoka. "And don't think I don't know what you are trying to do. Answer my question."

"Hmm? And why should I?" Hisoka asked slyly.

"I'll fight you once. You can choose the time and place." Sillar offered immediately, smirking. He had anticipated this question and had spent the second phase, when he had refused to attempt to make another sushi, thinking about it. So far, all he knew about Hisoka was that he loved fights, lived for it even, if all the bloodlust he kept releasing was any indication. Although, Sillar hadn't actually been the subject of Hisoka's bloodlust before, only getting the residue vibes so he wasn't actually how strong it actually was.

"If I'm right, this indigo line is part of something else, another power. And if you help me unlock it, cliché as it sounds, I can probably offer you a good fight." Hisoka blinked owlishly, surprised. Then, after Sillar's words had sunk in, he grinned toothily. Exhaling heavily, Hisoka wrapped his arms around himself, eyes gleaming with barely veiled need as he stared at Sillar, who finched but held his ground.

"Ok." Hisoka breathed shakily, his eyes glassy and wide. "The indigo line is also what is commonly called referred to as Nen residue. Each Nen residue has its own signature depending on the person who left it. Most of the time, its left behind when Nen is used in the vicinity but it can also be left behind voluntarily, in which case it lasts much longer and is easier to spot. I have a partner who left it behind for me to follow to the site of the second phase."

"There's something you aren't telling me." Sillar commented. "Why couldn't the others see this Nen residue? And what is Nen in the first place?"

"Ah! You're just getting tastier and tastier! I can't wait to devour you!" Hisoka cried to himself. Sillar shuddered involuntarily as Hisoka's hands started running down his chest.

"If you don't answer properly, I'll retract the deal! Hurry and answer!" Sillar yelped, his tone bordering panic as Hisoka's hands got dangerously close to his privates.

"Don't! Your friends couldn't see them because they are not aware of the existence of Nen. And, while the same can also be said for you, the only reason that you can see them is because you have already been awakened. On the other hand, none of the others have been awakened, or initiated or baptised. Whichever one you prefer." Hisoka rushed, stumbling over his words in his excitement and haste.

"I have? Why do I not remember being awakened or whatever?" Sillar questioned, furrowing his eyebrows.

"The most likely explanation is that you somehow lost your memories of being awakened, as well as your memories of learning about and using Nen. I can't give you a definite answer but your family would probably know, considering the seal that you have on your aura."

"Seal?" Sillar repeated.

"Yup! It might not be your family but you definitely have a seal on you and I can't imagine your family letting it stay there if they didn't approve of it. It is weakening though, which is why you were able to see the Nen residue. Its also probably why you are sometimes able to summon these purple flames. I assume that that was your Hatsu." Hisoka noted.

"And are there any consequences of this _seal_?" Sillar asked dangerously.

"Your behaviour will be milder, more compliant. Some mental damages. Possible death." Hisoka listed. Then, he paused, eyeing Sillar strangely. "Usually there would be poor physical conditions, reflexes for example, and clumsiness. I wonder why you aren't experiencing those…"

"It doesn't matter!" Sillar snapped, feeling oddly betrayed despite the fact that he was already estranged from his family, besides Killua that is. "Can you get rid of the seal?"

"Yes. Quite easily in fact. And if I do this, you'll owe me a fight? To be done whenever I want?" Hisoka asked in confirmation.

"Yes. Just get rid of it."

And without any fanfare, Hisoka reached out, a finger poking Sillar' chest, right above his heart. Sillar moved to stop Hisoka, but his motions stopped as a burning sensation grew in his chest. Staring wide-eyed at Hisoka, Sillar held in his scream as the burning sensation grew and morphed into that of needles poking him. Sillar withdrew his dagger with one hand, lashing out at Hisoka but Hisoka easily caught his arm in the other hand. A mere blink of the eye later, Hisoka somehow had both of Sillar's arms pinned to the wall with one hand, leaving Sillar to struggle and bite his lips to stop his scream from erupting out.

After what felt like an eternity later, the pain receded into a dull throbbing in Sillar's chest. Hisoka hummed, taking a step back and allowing Sillar to slump onto the group in a crumbled heap as his legs gave way underneath his weight. Sillar groaned, his mouth and the back of his throat tasting oddly like rubber as he fought the urge to give in to the nausea currently plaguing him.

Then, seeing Hisoka's pointed clown shoes right in front of him, Sillar decided 'screw it' and promptly threw up all over Hisoka's shoes. Hisoka stared down in stunned silence, his shoes covered in thick rancid vomit that slowly slid down and plopped onto the ground, starting to form a puddle. Sillar smirked, revenge achieved, and slowly got to his feet, using the wall behind him as a support. "Did you have to do that?" Hisoka asked mournfully.

"Yes. Yes, I did." Sillar replied solemnly. Having finally regained some semblance of balance and strength, Sillar proceeded to ignore Hisoka and turned to exit the room. Stopping by the open door, Sillar tilted his head back to look at Hisoka who had somehow produced another pair of the exact same clown shoe, in the exact same colour, and was slipping it on. The vomit-covered pair of shoe in turn lay forgotten in a steadily growing puddle of puke. "By the way, don't tell anyone that we, as in me and Killua, are here. Important contact or not."

"And what will I get in exchange for that? The fight is only for removing your Nen seal remember."

"A favour. You can call on me once. Just once though. On that note, when will the fight be?"

"When you ripen fully… come into your own power…"

"Right… I'll just go now." Sillar replied slowly, slipping out of the room and practically running down the hallway as loud pants and moans chased after him. Sillar only slowed down when he was on the other side of the blimp and he settled down on a cushioned seat by the windows of the blimp. Sillar folded his arms on the counter before him, resting his head on it as he stared out the window blankly.

He sighed softly, guard dropping for just a moment in lieu of the fact that there was no one nearby as far as he could tell. Then, his moment of weakness over, Sillar straightened back up and stood up. As he turned around, he glanced at the window again and froze. As expected, he could see his own reflection, a slightly pale yet sharp and refined face, complete with a pair of sharp narrowed eyes and thin lips. But, what was not expected, was the tall, lean figure of an applicant.

His prominent blue hair was styled into a mohawk and his face was sharp and angled, cheeks hollow and eyes half-lidded. He wore clothes with pins stuck all over him, even into his face and limbs. Even his number tag, which proudly declared the man as the 301th to reach the waiting area, had a pin sticking through it, at the upper half, for some reason.

"Hello." The delinquent-looking applicant clicked and clacked. Sillar blinked slowly, eyeing the other strangely. However, before he could say anything, a sudden flash caught his attention and Sillar's eyes darted to the left. He was fast enough to catch a glimpse of a black cloth and Sillar frowned contemplatingly.

Suddenly, Sillar felt a sharp pain in his forehead and he flinched back slightly, eyes immediately shooting back to where #301 had been standing before. Sillar blinked in confusion when he saw nothing and no one. There wasn't even a slight breeze to signify that someone had just recently passed by. He stood stock-still and silently for a moment, head cocked slightly to the side as he listened out for any sounds.

Finally, after he couldn't hear or see anything to signify that something was wrong, Sillar continued on his way. While walking, he fished out his mobile phone from the pocket of his cloak. He quickly typed out a message but his finger hovered uncertainly over the send button. Suddenly, he caught the familiar tell-tale acrid stench of blood and Sillar determinedly pressed his finger down before setting a brisk walk towards the origin of the stench.

His phone beeped, just once, notifying its owner that the message had been sent and that he would likely be getting a visit from a certain information broker in the near future. Right now though, Sillar was more interested in figuring why the hell his younger brother was covered in blood and radiating killing intent while he stood over two corpses.

"Welcome to Trick Tower! This is the site of the third phase. You have to reach the bottom of the Tower within 72 hours." The green bean-like secretary explained. He took a look around at the applicants, smiling gently. "I wish you good luck." And with that, the secretary took a small step back and the entrance to the blimp closed up, obstructing their view of him.

"That was… informative." Sillar sighed as he watched the blimp fade away and disappear into the clouds in the distance. Their group immediately trooped over to the side of the large platform, not encircled by any barriers, that formed the roof of the tower and peered over the edge hesitantly. Many others also had the same idea, their first instincts regarding the task that they had been given being that the only way to get down from the large platform, which had no obvious exits in sight, was to climb down the side of the tower.

However, the naïve hope that the task would be as simple as figuring out a way to climb down was cruelly shattered as all the applicants watched as one of them, a professional climber and now dead, climbed down the side and only made it about a third of the way down before being eaten by some sort of angel-bird hybrid.

One possible method down, the group then turned their attention to the floors beneath their feet. Surreptitiously, the two older males wandered around the large platform, testing the floor boards beneath them with their feet while they pretended to be looking for a path down the side of the tower, occasionally peering over the edge for the benefit of anybody watching them.

While Kurapika and Leorio did that, the three younger males instead ran all around the tower, acting like the little brats that their age dictated them to be. They received a couple of derisive snorts from the other applicants but were able to figure out what their next step should be as a result so Sillar was going to count it as a win in his books, regardless of how cranky his younger brother was starting to look.

"Kurapika! Leorio!" Gon yelled, waving his arms wildly to attract the attention of the two aforementioned men, as the trio of kids stood slightly away from the trap doors that they had found in the platform. The two of them quickly jogged over and Killua silently indicated five trap doors in the platform, floor boards that flipped over when enough force and pressure was applied on it.

"Great! What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Leorio cheered, taking a step forwards and onto one of the floor boards indicated.

"Wait just a sec old man." Killua snapped, hand snapping onto Leorio's arm, pulling him back from the floor board and onto the ground. Leorio glared at Killua, slowly getting up and rubbing his butt reproachfully.

"We managed to find one which another person went through and when we went to test it, we couldn't open it again. It was on its own too, there weren't any others nearby if you don't count these five." Sillar explained placidly.

"Ah. So we have to do this carefully then." Kurapika hummed, eyeing the floor boards.

"Not really. Its not like we can pick and choose can we?" Sillar replied.

"Hey! A little explanation for those of us who aren't that smart?" Leorio snapped. As one, Sillar, Kurapika and Killua turned and blinked at Leorio owlishly. Leorio flinched, taking a step back, his eyes darting nervously between the three males.

"Sillar means that some of these floor boards might be traps, if we're really unlucky, all of them might be traps." Kurapika explained. Twin noises of realisation rang out and the trio who had understood the first conversation blinked in confusion.

"Gon?" Sillar started hesitantly.

"Heh heh. I didn't really understand the first conversation… you, Killua and Kurapika just seemed to know what was going on." Gon chuckled sheepishly.

"You idiot! You were with us when we discussed this earlier!" Killua snapped, slapping the back of Gon's head.

"But you didn't even say anything about traps then!" Gon cried defensively. Killua snorted, folding his arms.

"Anyway, so we just have to rely on luck then?" Kurapika brought the conversation back on topic.

"Yes. Just choose one board and pray for the best, I suppose." Sillar confirmed. And with that, the five of them each chose a floor board, standing behind it. "Ready?"

"Yup!" Gon replied cheerfully. "On the count of 3."

 _3._

"Good luck." Sillar wished awkwardly.

"Thank you. Good luck to all of you too." Kurapika replied, a little surprised.

 _2._

"Hmph. Don't die old man." Killua stuffed his hands into his pocket, looking in any direction but Leorio.

"I'm not old! But… you too, brat and brats." Leorio replied.

 _1._

"Haha! Let's all meet at the bottom guys!" Gon cried cheerfully. Shooting surprised looks at each other, small smiles slowly grew on the other four's faces. They all took a step forwards so that there were standing on top of the floor boards that they had each chosen

 _0._

"We'll meet at the bottom!" They all replied determinedly before either jumping up and dropping down the floor boards or simply pressing down with one foot, like Sillar and Killua, and dropping down casually. There wasn't really a very large drop and Sillar instinctively landed in a crouch, already alert and looking out for any threats. Beside him, Killua was standing in his usual slouch although his narrowed eyes gave away the fact that he wasn't actually inattentive.

He would have to correct that, Sillar thought absentmindedly before pausing as his mind finally processed the information that his eyes were sending him. Straightening up, Sillar swiftly replaced his alert features with a small curl of his lips, adopting the usual façade he usually showed the others besides Gon and Killua, both of whom had somehow wormed their way into Sillar's heart. Not that Kurapika and Leorio hadn't, but there was something about the two younger boys that endeared them to him somehow.

"Haha! That was short lived huh guys?" Gon remarked cheerfully. Kurapika had also managed to land on his feet, crouching slightly but Leorio must have thought that it would be a longer drop and had been trying to do a somersault because he landed on his butt.

"Yeah… Anyway, what are we supposed to do here?" Leorio asked, slowly getting up off the ground and rubbing his butt.

"I'm… not sure." Kurapika replied, looking around.

"Here." Sillar called out without turning around, waving a hand to call the others over. They gathered in front of a plaque positioned beside a barred steel door, that had a screen across the centre, eyes running over the inscribed words quickly.

 _To the 5 of you who have found your way into this chamber,_

 _Work with each other and find your way down together,_

 _By consensus of the majority._

Once done, they regarded the watches sitting innocently on a table below the plaque doubtfully. The wristwatch had a screen showing the remaining time that they had to get to the bottom of the tower as well as two buttons, one labelled 'O' and the other labelled 'X'.

As expected, naïve Gon was the first to reach out and grab one of the watches and, as directed by the plaque, put it on around his wrist. Seeing as nothing happened after Gon had put on the wristwatch, the other 4 also slowly grabbed a wristwatch for themselves and put it on. The moment Sillar put on his own wristwatch, being the last one of them to do so, a speaker at the very back of the room crackled to life.

"Welcome to the third phase of the Hunter Exam. You 5 have chosen the Path of Majority Rules. You will have to work together to get to the bottom of this tower within 72 hours. Good luck." And with that, the speaker crackled a final time and cut off. A moment later, the bars on the steel door lifted up and words flashed on the screen.

 _Open this door?_

' _O' for Yes, 'X' for No_

"We have to do this already? Isn't our choice obvious?" Leorio grumbled as he pushed the 'O' button on his wristwatch. There was a 'beep' before _5 'O' , 0 'X'_ flashed across the screen and the steel door unlocked and slid to the side, allowing the group of 5 to pass through into another chamber with another screen right across from them.

 _Which way do you want to go?_

' _O' for right,_

 _, 'X' for left_

"This could get monotonous quickly…" Leorio sighed, pushing a button on his wristwatch.

"That's true. We can't go 5 feet without having to make another decision." Kurapika agreed.

Once all 5 of them had made their decision the screen beeped again and the words changed to reflect their group's decision. The bars blocking the way to enter the right corridor lifted with a loud rumble as Leorio stared dumbfounded at the screen that proudly displayed the result as _4 'O' , 1 'X'_.

"What? Why would you choose to go to the right?" Leorio demanded.

"Research shows that people will instinctively go to the left. If the examiner knows that, they may make the left path harder than the right." Kurapika explained.

"Even so! The right makes me uneasy!" Leorio complained.

"Stop whining. The decision has already been made anyway." Sillar rolled his eyes and said as he pushed past Leorio to move into the right hallway. The others kept quiet but each of them followed behind Sillar, leaving Leorio behind in the room.

"Hey! Guys!" Leorio protested, racing to catch up to them. "Don't leave me behind!"


End file.
